After hearing what the steward said, Chen Shu was stunned and asked
"Are you sure it's about suppressing bandits?"
"Yes, our people saw with their own eyes that the special envoy of the King of Qin and Lord Sima, the county lieutenant, were both at the county guard's mansion, so my subordinates speculated that it might be related to the suppression of bandits." The steward said.
Hearing that Sima Xin, who had been staying in the barracks, rarely came to the governor's house, Chen Shu also tended to suppress the bandits, but this kind of thing should be a government issue, why did they let them, the wealthy families and the chamber of commerce, participate Woolen cloth?
"Who has gone?" Chen Shu continued to ask.
"The two chambers of commerce in Bashu, the head of the Sima family, the head of the Li family, and the rest are some of the presidents of the chambers of commerce, and some of them are on their way," the steward said.
"I understand, prepare a car and go to the Sheriff's Mansion."
After Chen Shu got on the carriage, he kept wondering about the purpose of calling them all this time, but after thinking about it, he couldn't guess it. After the carriage stopped, Chen Shu looked at the gate of the Sheriff's Mansion and took a deep breath. I walked in alone in one breath.
Under the guidance of the clerk, Chen Shu came to the meeting room. At this time, the room was full of people. Ziyou was sitting in the main seat. On both sides were the county governor Qu Yi and the county lieutenant Sima Xin. Below were all the people. The president of the wealthy clan and the chamber of commerce, the widow Qing who had just received the reward, sat in the first place. The second seat was empty, and Sima Su and Li Ye sat opposite.
"My lords, my colleagues are late, please bear with me." Chen Shu saluted to everyone.
"Master Chen, you don't have to be polite. Please take a seat quickly." Ziyou said with a smile.
Looking at Ziyou's smile, Chen Shu always felt a little hairy on his back, but he still sat down on his seat. After Chen Shu took his seat, the whole room was filled with people. The clerk closed the door of the room, and Ziyou looked at The people who arrived coughed slightly, and everyone's eyes turned to Ziyou.
"You must be wondering why I summoned everyone, right?" Ziyou said, looking at everyone.
The people below nodded, and Widow Qing said softly
"Master Wang, just tell me what you have to say. If someone is useful and comes to our place, we will definitely not refuse."
Hearing what Widow Qing said, the rest of the people quickly agreed. Now Widow Qing is different from the rest of them. He is an out-and-out title holder of the Qin Kingdom. Although he is only the lowest official, he is still a Join the ranks of Jinshi and be superior to others.
"Let me tell you straight. Everyone knows that I was attacked by bandits on the way here." Ziyou saw everyone nodding and continued, "I have also heard about a lot of bandits affecting merchants and ordinary people these days. I had to travel, so I kept thinking about sending troops to suppress the bandits, but suppressing the bandits required orders from the court, so I sent someone to petition the king to order the suppression of the bandits, but..."
Hearing Ziyou talk about suppressing bandits, Chen Shu's heart sank. He listened carefully to Ziyou's words, but Ziyou stopped mid-sentence, which made him feel a little itchy. These days, he wanted to get the army out of the city as soon as possible to suppress the bandits. The bandit spent a lot of effort, but to no avail. Now Ziyou spoke about this matter in public again, but he only said half of it, which cut off some of the thoughts that had just arisen in his heart.
"Sir, just say it directly. Suppressing bandits is a good thing for the country and the people. I am sure your king will not refuse." Qu Yi took over the conversation and said.
Everyone looked expectantly at Ziyou again. Although the bandit suppression had little to do with them, if the bandits were really wiped out, their cost of doing business would be reduced a lot, and their profits would be even greater. So they look forward to the army to suppress the bandits every day.
"Everyone knows that the Qin Dynasty has just ended its campaign against South Korea. The war of annihilation and army rewards cost an astronomical amount of food, grass and soldiers. So now the court is in a dilemma and cannot come up with the money. The king wants to suppress the bandits. Yes, but the money and food in the court are not allowed, so this is why it is delayed again and again. Those who are doing this are all my people of Great Qin. I once heard a saying, what is a merchant? He said this about a merchant, a merchant , one is a person who has things to discuss, and the other is a person who comes up with ideas through discussion. I wonder how you feel about this opinion?" Ziyou put down the tea cup and said.
These people here are all heads of clans or chambers of commerce. They are all hard-working people. They are all human beings. At that moment, they understood the meaning of Ziyou's words. To put it bluntly, it means you are the one who made the mistake. Money, I contribute, and get some souvenirs. Although they all understand this, they all frowned. It's not that they don't want to give it, on the contrary, they are eager to give it. What kind of people do businessmen like the most? Of course they are corrupt officials. They are not afraid of officials being corrupt, but they are afraid of not being corrupt. But there is also a question before them, that is, how much is appropriate to give.
"This is a good thing that benefits the people, and it is also an important matter that benefits the court. Please consider it carefully. No matter how much you donate, the people of Shu County, the court, me, and even the king will remember your generosity." Ziyou looked at it. everyone said.
After everyone listened to Ziyou's words, they felt a burst of emotion in their hearts. As expected of a Confucian, this was a righteous speech. They couldn't refuse it. They all smiled and started to agree with Ziyou. At the same time, they asked Ziyou how to donate and the specific donation. How much is the money and food?
"As for the amount of donation, it depends on how loyal you are to the people of Shu County, to the Qin State, and to the king. As for how much you can donate, you can do your best." Ziyou said with a faint smile, I'm just kidding, I don't know how much your family property is. It's up to you.
Ziyou is trying his best, but who here dares to really give less? In their opinion, Ziyou is blatant blackmail, but they don't dare to have the slightest objection. If they take Ziyou's Thighs, then they were the next widows to clear, and each of them immediately made up their mind to cut off the flesh.
"We will definitely do our best to support Governor Qu and General Sima in suppressing bandits. On behalf of the Bashi Chamber of Commerce, I will donate 50,000 dans of grain and 30,000 gold in military pay." Widow Qing said first.
"My Li family has 45,000 dans of grain and 8,000 gold of military pay." Li Ye followed up and said.
"Sima's family, 50,000 dan of food and 30,000 jin of military pay." Sima Su followed up and said.
"I"
After the three people made their quotations, no one else dared to delay. Suddenly everyone in the hall began to quote. Ziyou knocked on the table, and Qu Yi quickly wrote down everyone's quotations. Ziyou Listening to these people's quotations, although they are still calm on the surface, their hearts have begun to stir. Excluding the money given by the three major families, the remaining people have a total of 200,000 gold, and they are still quoting. , You must know that the military salary that Han Wangan gave to the Korean border army was only 100,000 gold. If this money was given to Han Wangan, how could the Han army be defeated by the Qin army so quickly.
The Qin army's combat power is astonishing because every enemy's head is clearly marked with a price. With two heads, you are considered worthy of meritorious deeds. Who wouldn't be tempted by this? People are afraid of killing, but when killing becomes a reward, everyone wants to have two more hands and chop off more heads. The reason why the Qin and Han Dynasties have amazing military power is the military merit and title system, and the future Royal Navy also relies on it. This reward method defeated many opponents such as Spain, Portugal, and France.
After everyone bid the price, Chen Shu was the only one who didn't bid. Chen Shu looked a little complicated now. He couldn't figure out what Ziyou wanted to do, but his purpose was to let Ziyou send an army to suppress the bandits. , call the price immediately
"Although the Chen family is not big, it also has a small amount of assets. Bandits in Shushan have been causing harm for many years, and our Chen family is not immune. Therefore, on behalf of the Chen family, I donate 60,000 dans of grain and 35,000 gold to help our Daqin soldiers quell the bandits in Shushan."
Chen Shu's quotation was higher than that of anyone before him, including Widow Qing, which surprised everyone. It wasn't that they couldn't offer more money and food than Widow Qing, but in order to protect the face of Widow Qing, the boss of the Bashu Chamber of Commerce, so He didn't offer a higher price, so instead of making an offer like this, it would be better to send some to Ziyou privately. Seeing that Chen Shu, who had always been a good person, actually behaved like this, everyone was a little puzzled.
"As expected of the head of the Chen family, I will definitely ask for credit for you. There is some wine in the governor's house. Can you please invite me?" Ziyou said.
Everyone followed Ziyou to the side yard. After a banquet where both host and guest enjoyed themselves, Ziyou, Qu Yi and Sima Xin were left in the governor's mansion. Sima Xin kept clicking his tongue as he looked at the bill. The money and food written on it Let alone annihilating the banditry in Shushan, another battle to annihilate Korea would be enough.
"These people are really rich." Sima Xin said with emotion.
"Did your Excellency return the money from Widow Qing, Sima's family and Li's family along the same route as you said before, use part of the remaining money to suppress the bandits, and escort the rest back to Xianyang?" Qu Yi asked.
"No, these people are not short of money. Have you investigated clearly what I asked you to investigate?" Ziyou asked. Mr. Ziyou has no habit of sending money back to rich people. After all, this is using yours. It’s somewhat inappropriate for me to send you back the money to handle your affairs.
"The investigation is clear. I have been hanging around with Chen Shu these days, and I have determined that those businessmen are colluding with the Chen family. I sent people to investigate these people privately. If I don't investigate, I won't know. The land of these people's families has exceeded regulations, and some land was obtained through some shady means," Qu Yi said.
Qu Yi sent the results of the investigation over the past few days to Ziyou. They were all evidence of the illegal crimes of these families. After reading them, Ziyou put down the evidence. He originally thought that the situation of land annexation by powerful powers in the Qin State was relatively small. After all, Qin Fa was still there, but he didn't expect that these people's greed for land had exceeded his imagination. It seemed that he had to come up with special methods to control the powerful, and bless them one by one.
"Keep an eye on these people. They are the heroes of the Qin Dynasty. Do they still need to pay for the money and food to attack Wei?" Ziyou said.
"But looking at the evidence alone, we can only say that they were arrested, but their homes were not confiscated." Qu Yi said with some worry.
Zi You glanced at Qu Yi helplessly. Si Ma
"Sir, the general's men discovered that someone was hiding armor. Please allow the general to arrest him."
You can guess what this blessing means.
(End of chapter)
